


and they lived happily ever after

by LuciferCaelestis



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Season/Series 06, Sheith Month 2018, Shiro is totally a disney princess, and Keith is his prince, just a tiny bit of canon divergence for plot convenience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 22:56:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15301875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciferCaelestis/pseuds/LuciferCaelestis
Summary: In which Shiro is totally not Sleeping Beauty, and true love's kiss is needed to wake the prince....Of course, Keith doesn't know that.





	and they lived happily ever after

**Author's Note:**

> s6 made me cry, i wanted to share the joy with everyone else
> 
> thanks to MiidiocreShards for beta'ing!!!
> 
> Edit: forgot to mention it's for Day 13 of Sheith Month: Happy Ending!!!

Once they found a suitable planet, Keith wasted no time telling them all to land there.

He had the feeling everyone was relieved to make a stop. They were all exhausted after the fight anyway.

He carries Shiro out of the Black Lion carefully, setting him down where the others are gathered. He can feel their eyes on him, waiting for the promised explanation.

“This body’s barely living, but Shiro’s spirit is alive. It’s inside the Black Lion. I’ve heard him talking to me.”

Lance is hysterical at the thought that he missed something like this happening, dropping to his knees by Shiro’s side.

He watches as Allura walks to the Black Lion, and places her hands on the lion’s jaw. His eyes grow wide when a faint purple light begins to glow from the lion, spreading from the head and the body and the legs and until it finally coalesces through Allura herself.

She turns and walks back to them steadily, still glowing, before she kneels before Shiro’s head and Keith adjusts his position a little to make it easier on her. With his hand is cupping Shiro’s neck, she lowers her hands to his head and she glows even brighter, the purple light seeping from her hands into Shiro.

Mystical lights surround them as Shiro start glowing too. When the light fades, there’s a notable difference to Shiro.

His hair is white now.

However, Shiro’s breathing was still even and peaceful; he looked asleep.

He waits for Shiro to wake up. Allura’s magic had to have worked right? They had Shiro back. Right?

But Shiro continued to sleep.

If he weren’t still supporting Shiro’s head, he’d be pacing around the area already. He can barely suppress the overpowering need to just  _ do _ something. As it was, he didn’t dare take his eyes off of Shiro for even a second just in case he disappeared again.

The minutes pass by with excruciating slowness.

The others are shifting around, exhausted but unwilling to leave Shiro.

After too long spent waiting in silence, he can’t take it anymore.

He can’t contain the worry in his voice when he calls out to Allura. “Allura! He’s not waking up!”

“I don’t understand, I felt his soul and quintessence, the transfer should have worked perfectly fine,” she frets. “He should be awake now.”

Keith looks down at Shiro, not knowing what to do. 

“What can we do?”

“Yell until he wakes up?”

“Throw water on him?”

“Shake him?”

Keith resists the urge to cradle Shiro closer to his body. No one was going to hurt Shiro on his watch.

“Maybe he just needs a kiss to wake up," Lance jokes. "You know, like true love's kiss. It always works in the movies, right, so maybe it’s worth a try?"

“Come on, Lance,” Pidge snaps. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not  _ in  _ a movie.”

“Yep yep yep, there’s no way it’s gonna work,” Hunk chimes in. “It’s not like we haven’t seen crazier things happening since we came out here, like five magical robot lions making a giant robot man, giant space weblums that grow crystals in their stomachs,  _ actual aliens…”  _ he trails off and starts mumbling, visibly counting off all the instances he can think of before giving up after he runs out of fingers.

It’s hard not to agree. They’ve seen some pretty weird things happening since they became paladins.

“Ok, so maybe it isn’t that hard to believe true love’s kiss could work.”

“True love’s kiss? Is it anything like the Kiss of Life?” Allura asks, sounding excited.

“The what-now?” Lance asks.

“The Kiss of Life,” Allura repeats. “It was an ancient Altean custom, long before my time. When there was no other option, in the most dire of times, it was meant to share our quintessence with the ones we loved most when they needed it. Of course, such customs became obsolete with time, but I still remember the stories my father used to tell me about it. He used to say it was a magic unlike any alchemy he’d ever known,” she says wistfully.

“There are plenty of Altean tales featuring the Kiss of Life, you know? My grandfather used to tell me about the one about a noble Altean prince who was saved by his faithful knight from a curse of endless sleep. Of course in his version, he was the noble prince...” Coran muses.

Hunk face-palms. “So it turns out sleeping beauty isn’t just an Earth thing then, that’s good to know.”

“I guess it’s worth a try. But I think you guys are forgetting something… for true love’s kiss, wouldn’t we, you know, need Shiro’s true love?” Keith asks.

He looks down at Shiro again. The white hair was stark against the desert background, and Shiro’s missing arm was all too visible to him.

He’s the one who did this to Shiro. Shiro didn’t deserve any of this. He’d hoped that whatever solution they came up with, it would work immediately, but that would have been too easy for them, wouldn’t it?

The silence lasts a little too long. Keith looks up, ready to ask them what was wrong, only to find them all just looking at him like he’s an idiot. 

“Maybe we should get another leader because now I’m worried about what other obvious things Keith’s been missing.”

He looks at them blankly, feeling defensive. What wasn’t he getting this time?

“It’s  _ you. _ Shiro’s true love. There’s no way it’s anyone else.”

Him?

What are they talking about?

He loves Shiro, he knows that, he’s accepted it even. It’s not the same as Shiro loving him back. But maybe… him loving Shiro is enough.

They’re wrong about Shiro loving him back, but if there’s a chance it could work, if him loving Shiro was enough, he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t try. And he suppresses the small part of him that just wants to know what it would be like to be loved by Shiro, that dares to hope. 

He shifts himself so that he's facing Shiro, leaving his hand supporting Shiro's neck. 

He remembers a desperate battle, pleading for the most important person in his life.

Visions of the future that plagued him for two years, and his determination to save Shiro settles into something concrete.

He remembers his last confession, his love bared for the world to see.

He remembers the wreckage they caused and holding on, falling because there was no way he would let go, never again.

Finding Shiro in the astral plane. Feeling him as they piloted the Black Lion together, a connection like nothing he’s ever felt before.

_ I will never give up on you.  _

_ As many times as it takes.  _

_ I love you. _

He brings his right hand down to Shiro’s face, stroking it gently once before cupping it as he leans down and presses his mouth against Shiro’s.

He doesn’t mean to draw it out, having intended to give him a short kiss and only that, but then Shiro's lips move against his and he forgets himself.

It’s everything he could have ever imagined. It’s soft, and warm, and gentle, and he doesn’t want to breathe if it means breaking out of this moment.

His right hand is on the other side of Shiro's head, supporting him as he rises, left hand still supporting Shiro's neck, bringing them both up to a sitting position.

Keith opens his eyes as they separate, and he moves his head back a little, just enough to be able to see Shiro's eyes flutter open. 

They stare at each other and then they move in sync towards each other again, lips meeting again.

The feel of Shiro's mouth against his is distracting, especially when his tongue licks at Keith's lips and his mouth opens automatically, allowing Shiro in. 

Shiro's hand is in his hair, gripping it, pulling him even closer to Shiro.

It's so intimate, breaths shared and no space left between them and if the end of the world came just then, he wouldn't have noticed it.

Finally, even if it feels too soon, he pulls back from Shiro, already far too addicted to the feeling.

He presses his forehead against Shiro's, feeling so light. They’re so close he can feel Shiro’s breaths fanning across his lips. His eyes meet Shiro’s, and he hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed this, just being close.

“You found me,” Shiro breathes.

_ I’ll always find you _ , he doesn’t say, because from the look in Shiro’s eyes, he already knows.

He catches Shiro when Shiro lists to the side closer to him, seeming tired again. Shiro just leans into him and there’s a burst of joy in his chest as he shifts so Shiro can rest his head comfortably on his chest.

Shiro’s head is tilted such that he can feel it brushing against his jaw. It’s so soft, even with the new color. It reminds him of starlight, and he can’t help but feel that it was fitting for Shiro.

“We’re glad you’re back, Shiro,” he says.

“Rest.”

Shiro closes his eyes, and soon enough his breathing is calm and peaceful.

He drags his eyes away from Shiro’s face when he hears a laugh; he’d missed the others’ joyful reactions when Shiro woke up, too distracted by the kiss, but he wants to join in on their happiness. Shiro is back, he’s alive and he’s safe, and in all honesty, that’s enough for him.

“I can’t believe that worked! Oh my god, Shiro’s a freakin’ disney princess! And Keith is basically his prince in shining armour, and he didn’t even know it!” Lance cackles.

“You’re never going to let this go, aren’t you?” he asks wryly.

“Nope.”

Keith shakes his head and laughs.

Maybe it’s foolish, but despite everything they’ve gone through, and everything that will come later, maybe they will get a happy ending.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Bonus:
> 
> "Who knew you making a Sleeping Beauty reference would work, Lance?" Hunk says, looking shocked but amused.
> 
> “Huh? Who said anything about Sleeping Beauty? I was talking about Shrek.” Lance looks around, confused.
> 
> “Laaaaaance."


End file.
